Onward to Erie Canal





 

From Croton-on-the-Hudson’s Half Moon Bay Marina, we rented a car and drove to Wallkill for a barbeque at the home of Marian and Jim, my sister and her new hubby.  My nephew Michael picked up my mom from New Windsor – a mini family reunion.  It was a fun time re-meeting all the people who I had met at the April wedding and since forgotten!




Marian and Mom

Jim and Marian

Approaching Bear Mountain Bridge and Anthony's Nose

  

U.S. Military Academy West Point

Bannerman Island

 

The following day we continued up the Hudson to an anchorage behind Pollepel Island, also known as Bannerman Island.  Frank Bannerman became the world’s largest buyer of surplus military equipment and his store in Brooklyn occupied an entire block.  As his accumulation of equipment, ammunition and very volatile black powder grew, Mr. Bannerman had to look outside the city for storage.  In 1900 he purchased the island as a storage site and shortly thereafter began construction of a simulated Scottish castle as the warehouse.  Time has not been kind to the small rocky island – vandalism, neglect, decay and fires in 1920 and 1969 destroyed much of the structures leaving only a small portion of the exterior walls standing. 

Fleet of kayakers floating by at Bannerman Island

The island was easy to spot and we dropped anchor without any problem.  It was Father’s Day so there was plenty of boat traffic on the river and the anchorage afforded no protection from the wakes of speed boaters and jet skiers.  But the worst was yet to come.  I had commented upon our arrival that the air was “so calm and a good breeze would certainly be appreciated.”  I got my wish and so much more as the wind suddenly started to blow from the south at 20 MPH!!!  That was not in the forecast and definitely not in my plan for the evening.  We were buffeted for hours before the winds calmed near midnight.  The winds combined with the whistles from the commuter trains barreling along the eastern shore of the river did not make for a peaceful evening.

          

 

 

Moving right along up the Hudson we stopped next at Hyde Park Marina.  From there it was a 20 minute walk to the campus of the CIA – Culinary Institute of America – where 2,300 students study the culinary, baking and pastry arts.  We enjoyed a late lunch at Apple Pie Bakery Café, the only one of the four student-staffed restaurants open for business this Monday afternoon.   It was tough deciding what main dish to choose from their menu (the quiche of the day won there) but dessert was even tougher as each offering was tantalizingly showcased. But I am happy to report that the key lime éclair was delicious!



Old Diamondsides
In 2014 artist John Sendelbach created this 12-foot sculpture of a sturgeon, an important species of fish in the Hudson River.  Old Diamondsides is crafted from salvaged flatware - 700 knives, 400 forks and 600 spoons. Look closely and you can spot Julia Child peering out a CIA window nearby.

 

 

The CIA from the water

 

Tug boat traffic along this stretch of the Hudson kept Lazy W rockin’ and rollin’ through the night.  Paul, the Dockmaster at Hyde Park Marina, indicated that much of that traffic relates to the Tappan Zee Bridge construction as building materials are moving between Albany and the bridge via tug and barge.  We stayed at the dock for much of the morning waiting for the tide to change in our favor and waiting for the captain to repack the port shaft.

 

Esopus Meadows Lighthouse

Rock face north of Kingston

Near Saugerties

Lighthouse near Hudson

Next stop – the friendly Coeymans Landing Marina.  Along the way we once again made contact with Bev and Larry on Canadian Flyer as they slowly made their way north near Saugerties.  Thanks to the rising tide, we managed to cruise at well over 9 knots most of the way to Coeymans!




Approaching Rip Van Winkle Bridge connecting Catskill and Hudson

This is Rip Van Winkle country!  His legend is almost as big as that of Henry Hudson.  Written by Washington Irving in 1819, Rip Van Winkle is the enchanting tale of hen-pecked Rip who wanders into the Catskills to escape his nagging wife for the day.  He soon encounters the ghosts of Hudson’s crew playing a game of ninepin.  After drinking some of their magic potion, Rip falls into a deep slumber lasting 20 years.  He even sleeps through the American Revolution.  When he awakens, he finds his way back to his village only to find that it is unrecognizable and, to the villagers, so is he.  Rip is eventually reunited with his children and is accepted by the villagers despite all his eccentricities.

To enter Coeymans Landing Marina, one must carefully navigate through an extremely narrow channel paralleling the river.  This channel leads you to the fuel dock where we would be fueling up, pumping out and tying up for the night.  After securing Lazy W it was determined that she would have to be turned around so that all the hoses and paraphernalia on the dock would reach her connections.  Seriously, do a U-turn in the channel that is not much wider than our boat?!  The dockhands told us not to worry, they do this all the time.  So we did as we were instructed – throwing stern lines to two dockhands while another jumped in his dinghy and nudged our bow away from the dock.  Sure enough Lazy W spun lazily around, pivoting around the stern line grasped by the dockhands.  I was impressed. Had the dockhands not done this maneuver, we would have had to do it on our own the next morning as, unbeknownst to us at docking time, this channel was one-way!

It  was a chilly day on the water

Approaching Albany

Port of Albany

Albany

The bucolic countryside hugging the Hudson abruptly changes to industrial/commercial as the trees are replaced with massive tanks and unsightly piers at the port of Albany.  We had looked forward to stopping for a day at Troy Town Dock but it had sustained some major storm damage a few years ago and was still not fully operational so we pushed onward to the Federal Lock – the first of many to come.  With fenders and lines strategically placed around Lazy W’s starboard side, we entered the lock, I grabbed a bollard, the gate was closed behind us and we floated uneventfully up fourteen feet.  Lazy W seems somewhat large for two people to handle in the locks (the Captain strongly disagrees with me on this) and I fondly thought back to our 2002 cruise through here on our 37-foot Mainship Sea Venture with Rich Wills and 9-year-old Bryan as added crew.

Approaching Federal Lock

 

In 1817 construction began on the Erie Canal.  This massive undertaking was New York Governor Dewitt Clinton’s dream or, as others derisively called it, “Clinton’s big ditch.”  Completed in 1825, this 363-mile long canal was the first all water link between the Atlantic seaboard and the Great Lakes.  It opened a route to settlement of the interior and countless opportunities for growth resulting in prosperity beyond the young nation’s budding imagination.  The Hudson River linked the canal to New York City which soon surpassed Philadelphia as the nation’s chief seaport and center of world trade. As a result, the Erie Canal has long been considered the most influential waterway in the United States.

The original canal was 4-feet deep and 15-feet wide.  It has been enlarged and rerouted several times and is now 12-feet deep.  In its early days, horses and mules powered the system.  The animals walked along the tow path, pulling the boats along the water and inspiring the 1905 Erie Canal Song. 

I’ve got a mule and her name is Sal,

Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.

She’s a good old worker and a good old pal,

Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.

We’ve hauled some barges in our day

Filled with lumber, coal and hay

And every inch of the way we know

From Albany to Buffalo...

 

 

 

Frank and Sal

 

From dockside at the Waterford Visitor Center we can observe the comings and goings of the boats entering the first lock of the Waterford Flight of Five Locks, the start of the Erie Canal.  This series of locks provides the highest lift (169 feet) in the shortest distance (1.5 miles) of any canal built in the United States. A bateau carrying a crew of seven reenactors gingerly rowed its way into the lock this morning.  We will enter tomorrow.

 

First lock of Waterford Flight
 

Bateau and crew of reenactors

Bateau enters  Waterford Lock on its way to Rotterdam